I inspected an industrial property the other day, one location in dozens (maybe hundreds?) of locations owned by this company. The company has got to be one of the most vertically integrated businesses in the world.
They design, the manufacture, they distribute, they print point of service signs. They print one million labels a day. On site. Heck, they have a woodshop where they make their own office furniture. Apparently the distribution chain is so tightly bound and time sensitive that they don’t feel that they can rely on vendors to deliver on time.
What really struck me was the number of people in this enormous facility. Accountants, sales people, executives, people sorting bins, people sweeping up, people driving forklifts, people picking orders, people mowing the lawn.
People. Everywhere. And every one was an employee.
I went to a concert at Met Life Stadium last week. There were people in box offices, people searching bags, people running elevators (not sure why), people serving food, police people, roadie people, cleaning people.
Say what you will about computerization and automation.
People still need a lot of people.